Calcutta, Oct. 9: The Bengal police chief has advocated the use of rubber bullets and water cannons to tackle law and order situations — an elementary directive that followed the death of a young mother and suggested how reminders are needed to avert another Nandigram fiasco.

In an email that was sent soon after Mahila Congress activist Rajeswari Mullick fell to a police bullet, director-general of police Naparajit Mukherjee said that if required, the police could use armoured vehicles like the Vajra that can fire several tear gas shells at a time.

“The mail, which was sent to all district police superintendents, inspectors-general of police and DIGs, besides the commissioners of Howrah, Asansol and Durgapur, asked senior officers to ensure the use of tear gas for dispersing crowds and suggested that there should not be any policemen carrying conventional arms while controlling an irate crowd,” a senior officer told The Telegraph.

“If an armed contingent has to be sent, it should be led by a senior officer of the rank of a deputy superintendent of police and above. We have also been told to handle law and order situations with caution,” the officer said.

Mukherjee refused to speak on the email, saying that he had not passed any order about the use of non-lethal weapons. He, however, said he had asked the police to ensure there was no incidence of unprovoked firing.

“The police have been told to ensure there is no unprovoked firing while controlling mobs. In case they are left with no option, it should happen in presence of senior police officers,” Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee’s message, senior officers said, is an iteration of guidelines that say the police can open fire only if a baton-charge fails and non-lethal options like tear gas shells and rubber bullets are exhausted.

The instructions came more than four years after the Nandigram firing that killed 14 people and changed the political tide in Bengal. The police had come under severe criticism for not using rubber bullets or water cannons — as part of the standard operating procedure — while dispersing anti-land acquisition agitators in Nandigram on March 14, 2007.

“Even chief minister Mamata Banerjee had asked police to use rubber bullets weeks after the Trinamul-led government came to power. Accordingly, senior officers overseeing modernisation and co-ordination of the police were asked to draw up a list of existing stocks of rubber bullets in the districts so that it could be increased proportionately,” another senior officer said.

Some officers listed the difficulties they face. “We have only three Vajra armoured vehicles in the state. We also don’t have enough rubber bullets,” a senior officer from West Midnapore said.

Another officer said: “We are short of gas-guns, which are used to fire rubber bullets, and also the improvised .303 rifles that are used to fire plastic pellets.”

A Howrah officer said the police had not been trained in riot control with non-lethal weapons. “Only equipping the force with non-lethal weapons is not enough. We will also have to train the force on how to psychologically deal with a mob,” the officer added.